Sculptors who use natural

materials in their work.

 Starting points
Many sculptures use different
starting points. Sally Matthews
says “Everyone has their own
reasons for using animals in
art, but for me I always go back
to the animals themselves for
inspiration. My love of them,
their different form, movement,
smell and nature are the
reasons for my making them.
Their nature, even of a
domesticated or trained animal
is unpredictable and wild, their
presence is always enlivening.
I want my work to remind
people of our need for animals
and the example their nature
provides us with.”
Deer hounds made from hay, mud and graphite.
 Sally Matthews
Sally Matthew is based in
Wales. She is a sculptor
who often uses natural
materials in her work.
She says “The materials I
use such as coire fibre, 3 Ponies made from steel.
cow muck, steel, copper,
wood, all have a
relevance to the subject I
am making. They usually
have a texture and colour
that means no surface
has to be added.”
3 Ponies made from felted
sheep wool.
 Serena de la Hey
Serena de la Hey uses
willow in sculptures.
Having worked all over
the world on a range of
projects, she is best
known for the Willow Willow man 2001
Man, a 12 metre
sculpture next to the M5
motorway, near
Bridgwater in Somerset,
UK.

Metaphors - 1993
 Robert Smithson
Robert Smithson was one of the founders of the art form known as land art,
and is most well known for the Sprial Jetty, 1970, located in the Great Salt
Lake, Utah. This monumental earthwork was inspired in part when Smithson
saw the Great Serpent Mound, a Pre-Columbian Indian monument in south
western Ohio.
Land art takes using natural materials to it’s extreme. Materials such as
rocks sticks, soil, plants and so on are often used, and the works frequently
exist in the open and are left to change and erode under natural conditions.
Particularly large works are sometimes known as earthworks.

Spiral Jetty from atop Rozel Point, in mid-April

2005. Photograph by Soren Harward
 Henry Moore
The arch (1969) is made out of bronze.
It is outside the Hiroshima City
Museum of Contemporary Art in
Japan.
Henry Moore was born in
1898 in Castleford, Yorkshire.
His sculptures were abstract.
That means that his
sculptures often showed his
ideas and feelings, rather
than a clear figure or thing.
His sculptures were often
smooth, included empty
hollows and were often
carved out of stone or wood.
Can you find out about any other
sculptors that use natural
materials in their work?
You could use:
•The school library to find more information.
•The internet.
Can you think of any other way we could find out about
sculptors' that use natural materials to make their
sculptures?